Latest news with #CharteredInstituteofTaxation
Metro
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Metro
Farage's £250k 'Robin Hood tax' is a free ride for non-doms, says reader
Do you agree with our readers? Have your say on these MetroTalk topics and more in the comments. Nigel Farage's so-called 'Robin Hood Tax' is an outrageous, Sheriff of Nottingham-style con (Metro, Tue). The Reform UK 'Britannia Card' idea is that non-doms, instead of paying tax annually like the rest of us, make a one-off payment of £250,000, which 'Hood' Farage promises will be used to benefit 'the poor'. According to the Chartered Institute of Taxation (using figures from HMRC) the tax yield from non-doms for the year ending April 5, 2022, averaged out at £120,000 each. So Farage's one-off payment amounts to just over two years of tax at 2021-2022 rates followed by a permanent free ride at the expense of other taxpayers. Public services, already cut to the bone, will get even worse and the poor will suffer to support the wealthy. Paul Johnson, Ilford Sir Keir Starmer has described Palestine Action group throwing paint over fighter planes at RAF Brize Norton (Metro, Tue) as 'disgraceful'. He is right, the lack of security that allowed it to happen is indeed appalling and, as the leader of the government that takes responsibility for it, the buck clearly stops with him. With his new-found humility, the prime minister could perhaps now thank the organisation that exposed the weakness. What if they had been terrorists? Phil Goater, Sunbury-on-Thames To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video How do you find a secret base in Iran? You look for the building guarded by a man with an AK-47. How do you find a secret base in Israel? You look for the building guarded by a man with an Uzi machine gun. How do you find a secret base in the UK? You look for the building guarded by nobody – they're all asleep and the personnel officer is in charge. Jeff Sutton, Erdington Dennis Fitzgerald (MetroTalk, Tue) claims we 'can't bomb people into peace, only into surrender'. He's wrong. When we bombed Nazi Germany into surrender, it led to the birth of a peaceful and democratic country. Why should Iran be any different? Most Iranians hate the murderous regime that stole their country 46 years ago. Israel understands this. That's why the Israeli Air Force targeted Iran's notorious Evin prison – not to harm civilians but to help those oppressed by the Ayatollahs' regime escape and get a chance at freedom. David Frencel, London Are you able to consider this witticism in keeping with the recent 'doctor jokes' theme for your excellent newspaper? More Trending Ronnie O'Sullivan went to the doctor recently and said, 'Doctor, I feel like a snooker ball.' The doc replied, 'Get to the back of the cue.' Stevie 'Whirlwind' Duggers, Sheffield Another doctor joke. I went to the doctor today to get a vaccine. Nervous, I asked, 'Is it going to hurt?' The doctor said, 'It will hurt a bit today but tomorrow will be fine.' Immediately I replied, 'Can we reschedule for tomorrow, then?' Pedro, Hammersmith MORE: The Metro daily cartoon by Guy Venables MORE: Met Police boss grilled into apologising to ITV's Selina Scott after vicious mugging MORE: Drug kingpins guilty of plot to murder rival and smuggling £5,000,000 of cocaine
Daily Mirror
13-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mirror
HMRC confirms major change that will impact millions of taxpayers
HMRC sends out letters for many reasons, including if you need to register for self-assessment - but moving forward, the tax office will only write to you for tax demands HMRC has announced plans to drastically cut the number of letters it sends to households. The tax office sends out letters for many reasons, including if you need to register for self-assessment. But moving forward, HMRC will only write to you by post for tax demands. The tax office will continue to write to households that don't have the internet or struggle to access digital services. Its phone lines will also remain open. It comes as part of plans for the tax office to become "digital first" with the change confirmed in the Spending Review this week. The move is designed to cut the number of letters HMRC sends by 75% and save £50million a year by 2028/29. An HMRC spokesperson told The Sun it will communicate with taxpayers in "different ways instead" to provide a "better service" for taxpayers. John Barnett, Vice President of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, said: "HMRC are right to be aspiring to become a 'digital first' organisation but digitalisation has to work for taxpayers and agents, as well as for HMRC. "Moving from 70% of customer interactions being digital to 90% is a big step up. It will need existing digital services to be improved, the gaps in digital services to be closed, and the level of reassurance for those users of digital services that they have done the right thing to be improved too. "Plans to make such digital service improvements need to be feasible with HMRC's plans to improve their own underlying infrastructure. Traditional phone and post services need to be retained during the digital transition – and not be withdrawn or left to wither." It comes after millions of workers were urged to keep an eye out for an important tax document. Your employer must issue your latest P60 by May 31, by post or electronically. Your P60 summarises your total pay and deductions for the tax year. It also contains your final tax code, and it is important you check this is correct in case you owe money to HMRC. Tax codes are made up of a series of numbers and letters and are assigned to you by HMRC based on the information it has on your income. But there are a number of reasons why it could be wrong - for example, if you recently changed jobs or if HMRC has been given incorrect information from your employer. The code shows how much of your income is taken in tax, and everyone who is paid through PAYE has one. The most common code is 1257L for people who have one job or pension - although not everyone will be on this.
Mint
29-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
Why does the British tax year end on April 5th?
For Britons the end of the tax year looms on April 5th. Why such a seemingly random date? In the Middle Ages England's tax year—or a nascent version of it—ended on Lady Day, March 25th, a religious festival by when debts had to be settled. The country, like most of Europe, used the Julian calendar. But Julius Caesar's system was flawed, and in 1582 continental Europe, on Pope Gregory XIII's orders, shifted to a more accurate model. Protestant England resisted. By the mid-18th century England was 11 days behind the continent, creating scope for confusion in trade and diplomacy. To catch up it made a one-off excision of a week and a half from September 1752. People would go to sleep on September 2nd and wake up on the 14th. At the time, tax was charged not on income but on land and windows. These were annual payments, so to keep the tax period at 365 days people were given 11 extra days to settle their bill. Then, in 1758, the window-tax year was explicitly extended by 11 days, to April 5th. This was the date used when William Pitt the Younger introduced income tax in 1799, and has marked the close of the tax year ever since. Some may see this as an example of Britain's loveable eccentricity, others as a symbol of the arcane nature of the British tax code itself. The April date puts Britain at odds with countries such as America, France and Germany, all of which harmonise with the calendar year. Indeed, it does not coincide with the British government's own financial year, which begins (don't ask why) on April 1st. The Chartered Institute of Taxation, a body for tax professionals, says getting in sync with other countries would increase efficiency and reduce friction. Despite its name, the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS), an independent body within the Treasury, pointed in a 2021 report to the administrative effort that would be involved in changing the date, though it conceded that 'a tax year aligned to the calendar year would be the natural, simplest and easiest approach". Don't hold your breath: the OTS was abolished in 2023. Correction (March 31st 2025): The original version of this article mistakenly attributed the Gregorian calendar to Pope Gregory III, not XIII. Sorry. For more expert analysis of the biggest stories in Britain, sign up to Blighty, our weekly subscriber-only newsletter.
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
HMRC issues new £3,000 allowance for thousands of people
HMRC announced an increase in the Income Tax Self Assessment (ITSA) reporting threshold from £1,000 to £3,000 on March 11. Up to 300,000 people, including those with side hustles, will no longer need to file a Self-Assessment tax return. This includes people trading clothes online, dog-walking or gardening on the side, driving a taxi, or creating content online. This will benefit around 300,000 taxpayers. An estimated 90,000 of them will have no tax to pay and no reason to report their trading income to HMRC in the future at all. Others will be able to pay any tax they owe through a new simple online service. READ MORE: Blue Badge rule change means 1.35 million could wrongly pay £195 READ MORE: Fred Sirieix fears London has 'is so quiet' as Kirstie Allsopp blames people being 'scared' to go out Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, James Murray said: "From trading old games to creating content on social media, we are changing the way HMRC works to make it easier for Brits to make the very most of their entrepreneurial spirit. "Taking hundreds of thousands of people out of filing tax returns means less time filling out forms and more time for them to grow their side-hustle." Mr Murray, the minister responsible for HMRC, announced this reform on March 11 to tax experts hosted by the Chartered Institute of Taxation and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales in a speech to mark the 20th anniversary of HMRC. Eve Williams, CEO of eBay UK, commented: "This will be welcome news for thousands of UK sellers for whom eBay is a side hustle and a means of supplementing their household income during challenging times. "By removing the paperwork associated with selling online, hopefully we will help these side hustles grow into fully fledged small businesses." Looking for more from MyLondon? Subscribe to our daily newsletters here for the latest and greatest updates from across London.
